Riding a wave of momentum from his trio of victories on Tuesday Rick Santorum has opened up a wide lead in PPP's newest national poll. He's at 38% to 23% for Mitt Romney, 17% for Newt Gingrich, and 13% for Ron Paul.

Part of the reason for Santorum's surge is his own high level of popularity. 64% of voters see him favorably to only 22% with a negative one. But the other, and maybe more important, reason is that Republicans are significantly souring on both Romney and Gingrich. Romney's favorability is barely above water at 44/43, representing a 23 point net decline from our December national poll when he was +24 (55/31). Gingrich has fallen even further. A 44% plurality of GOP voters now hold a negative opinion of him to only 42% with a positive one. That's a 34 point drop from 2 months ago when he was at +32 (60/28).

Santorum is now completely dominating with several key segments of the electorate, especially the most right leaning parts of the party. With those describing themselves as 'very conservative,' he's now winning a majority of voters at 53% to 20% for Gingrich and 15% for Romney. Santorum gets a majority with Tea Party voters as well at 51% to 24% for Gingrich and 12% for Romney. And with Evangelicals he falls just short of a majority with 45% to 21% for Gingrich and 18% for Romney.

It's not just the Russians and Muslims we should worry about- China has already openly said (it's on youtube) that if Iran goes to war, they will back them- "even if it means WW3"-
So, if China is on Iran's side, and they quit loaning us money that funds these wars- where will we be? Dead, if Santorum is elected!

labman57

Most Americans can only tolerate a limited amount of inane and irrational commentary from our candidates for national office. With a holier-than-thou theocrat such as Santorum, we would be inundated with a daily barrage of sanctimonious and socially regressive religious doctrine-driven societal intolerance, comic book-level analyses of complex issues, routine reminders of his unabashed scientific illiteracy, and delusional tripe based on unbridled ignorance of the topics being discussed.

Anonymous

My feeling has always been that if any of the GOP's candidates for POTUS wins in November, we will most likely see our third world war, because in the area of foreign policy, they are sorely lacking. Ideology doesn't trump facts, and their ignorance of the governments and cultures of foreign nations is appalling to me. Plus, I've never seen a more intolerant group of individuals vying for the office of POTUS in all of my 40 years of watching the GOP.

David G.

The man is pathological and the Rethugs want him to run the country... he'll run it right into the ground. Get ready for Nazi-style concentration camps for immigrants, Jews, gays, Muslims and any free thinkers along the way. If you want to make a killing financially, I'd suggest investing in some internment camps to house anyone not extremist Catholic and get ready for a war we can't win with Iran once they bring in the Russians and the Muslim Countries of the Middle East. DG

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